Child Abuse Council of Santa Clara County

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Help with Acrobat PDF Files

What are PDF files?

PDF stands for "Portable Document Format."  This file format was created by Adobe Systems. The PDF format has become the Internet standard for document delivery.

Viewing PDF files

To view PDF documents, you must have Version 4.0 or later of Adobe Acrobat Reader plug-in installed in your Internet browser.

To get the latest Acrobat plug-in, click on the Get Acrobat Reader image below to link to the Adobe site for complete download and installation Instructions.
Note: When you click on the image, another browser window opens on your desktop so that you will not lose this page position.

Hints on Using PDF Files

How do I print a PDF?

When you open a PDF file on our website, the PDF opens in a new window inside your current browser window. This is like a program running inside of another program. When the PDF file opens, Acrobat Reader adds its own toolbar under your browser's toolbar. The new toolbar has buttons for "Save a Copy" "Print" "Email" and "Search".

Always use the Acrobat Reader toolbar Print function to print PDF files.
Do not use your browser's Print function.

To print a PDF file, please follow these steps:
  1. Click on the Print button in the Acrobat toolbar.
    The     Print dialog box opens up.
  2. In the Print dialog box, in the Page Handling pane, select "Shrink larger pages". You may see a similar option, such as "Shrink To Fit," depending on the version of Acrobat Reader that you are using). This option insures that the PDF fits on your paper size with your printer's margin settings.
  3. In the Print dialog box, look at the thumbnail image of your page.  If it doesn't look right, click in the "Auto Rotate and Center" checkbox or a different Page Handling option.
  4. You should not have to change any of the "Advanced" printing features. 
  5. Click OK to print the file.

Can I edit PDF files? 

You cannot edit Adobe Reader documents. 

How do I get PDF files to open more quickly?
Large PDF files may take a long time to open, depending on the speed of your internet connection. If you are having trouble opening a PDF file, try saving the file to the hard drive on your computer and opening it from there. It will open and print much more quickly.

How to save a PDF to your hard drive

To save a PDF file to your hard drive, follow these steps:
  1. Hold your cursor over the file name and RIGHT click.
  2. Select "Save target as" (in Internet Explorer) or "save link as" (in Netscape) and save it to the directory of your choice.
  3. Go to Adobe Reader or your file manager and open the document.

Accessibility and PDF files

If you are vision impaired, go to Adobe's screen-reader compatible download page. You may also find it helpful to download the Adobe Access plug-in which supports Windows text reading programs.

For more information on PDF document accessibility go to Adobe's website at http://access.adobe.com/

Converting Adobe PDF documents

If you are using special screen reading software you may need to convert PDF documents to web pages (HTML pages) or text (ASCII) files. Adobe provides a free service for converting PDF files to HTML or ASCII text which can then be read by many screen reading programs. Please note this will not work with PDFs, such as ASIC Gazettes and enforceable undertakings, that have been created from scanned documents.

To convert a PDF to HTML using the free Adobe service:

  1. Click on the link and open the PDF you wish to convert.
  2. Go to Adobe's website at http://access.adobe.com/simple_form.html and copy and paste the URL of the PDF document into the online form.
  • Adobe will return it to your browser as an HTML document.

Alternatively you can mail the URL of the PDF file to Adobe:

  1. Click on the link and open the PDF you wish to convert
  2. Copy and paste the URL of the PDF document into the body of an e-mail to
  • Adobe will mail back the converted PDF file. You can submit multiple URLs in a single email.

For more information on PDF document accessibility go to Adobe's website at http://access.adobe.com/

Hints for reading PDF files

When you open a PDF file on our website, the PDF will open in a new window inside your current browser window. This is like a program running inside of another program. Acrobat Reader adds its own toolbar under your browser's toolbar.

The Acrobat toolbar has a range of tools you can use. For example,

How do I search for a name, word or phrase in a PDF file?

Apart from a few PDF files that have been created from scanned documents (such as ASIC Gazettes and enforceable undertakings), the PDF files on our websites are searchable.

  • If you want to search for a particular word or phrase in a PDF file: Click the binoculars icon on the Adobe Reader toolbar.
  • In the "Find" window, type in the word or phrase you are looking for and click on "Find" (You can restrict your search by selecting the boxes "Match whole word only" and "Match case").
  • The cursor will now jump to the first hit in the document of the word or phrase you have entered.
  • To go to the next hit of the word or phrase,
    • if you have Adobe Reader v4 or higher, click on the small binoculars icon
    • if you have Adobe Reader v3, press Ctrl+G (Windows) or Command+G (Mac).
  • Continue until the program tells you there are no more hits for the word or phrase.

How do I copy and paste text from a PDF file?

Copying and pasting text from PDFs can have unpredictable results, particularly where text spans more than one column or includes tables or graphics. You will also lose some formatting. You also cannot copy and paste text from PDFs that have been created from scanned documents or created with copy protect security turned on.

To copy text from a PDF file :

  1. Open the file in Adobe Reader
  2. Click the "T" button (Text select tool) on the Adobe Reader toolbar (in Adobe Reader v3 this is the ABC button)
  3. Highlight the text you wish to copy
  4. Click the "Copy" button on the Adobe toolbar (do not use the Browser's toolbar or menu options)
  5. switch back into your word processing package and paste the text into a new document.

What if I have trouble installing the Reader? 

Adobe Reader 6.0 requires a version 5.0 browser or above.  Both Microsoft Internet Explorer and Netscape Navigator work smoothly with Adobe Reader.  You should have your browser installed and running before you download Adobe Reader for the first time.

Adobe Reader is normally a rock-steady, trouble-free program.  It is used in millions of installations to distribute scientific, government, academic, and business documents over the Web.  If you experience technical difficulty with it, try a fresh installation.  If all else fails, go to www.adobe.com for technical assistance. 

How can I create my own PDF files?

The free Adobe Reader cannot be used to create (write) files in PDF format.  Adobe sells a separate program, Adobe Acrobat, that creates files for the Reader.  

 

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